sculpture

Venus statue at London's British Museum had thumb knocked right off by catering server

(Newser) -
A waiter who was all thumbs cost a priceless Roman sculpture one of its own. The BBC reports on the incident at London's British Museum, which the Art Newspaper says took place in December, in which the unfortunate unnamed server from an outside catering vendor was setting up for...
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Some San Leandro residents want sculpture to put some clothes on

(Newser) -
There have long been complaints about the lack of women in the tech industry. Now there's a towering female figure, in a tech park across the bay from San Francisco, although not quite what some people had in mind. A 55-foot-tall statue of a nude woman unveiled this week...
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Researchers say he had osteoarthritis

(Newser) -
For centuries it has been thought that Michelangelo suffered from gout in later life, which was at the time used as a catch-all phrase to include all forms of arthritis. Researchers are reporting in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine that the famous artist instead had osteoarthritis. It'...
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This one's made of marble and stands 20 inches high

(Newser) -
It was just another day of typical garden work at a Polish museum when a worker's shovel clanked against something hard buried in the ground. The find: a 20-inch-high marble sculpture of the head of one Adolf Hitler, AFP reports. "Somebody made an effort to properly hide it,...
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(Newser) -
Vandals have spray-painted a controversial Anish Kapoor sculpture in the garden of the palace of Versailles outside Paris. The 230-foot red metalwork named Dirty Corner—which resembles a gaping cavern and had been dubbed the "Vagina of the Queen" by some French media—was sprayed Wednesday with yellow paint....
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They once stood outside his chancellery in Berlin

(Newser) -
Two life-size bronze horses commissioned to stand outside Adolf Hitler's chancellery disappeared from their last known location in Germany in 1989. Some 25 years later, the masterpieces have been discovered in an illegal art bust, the Local reports. After a year-long investigation, authorities conducting 10 raids across Germany yesterday...
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It will go to comedy center after residents complained

(Newser) -
The residents of Celoron, NY, will no longer have to live with a creepy bronze statue of Lucille Ball (or, at least, that's who it's supposed to look like). After citizens of Lucy's hometown campaigned to have the frightening 400-pound sculpture removed, the board of trustees voted...
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New theory traces history of restored 'San Giovannino'

(Newser) -
In 1930, a Spanish historian suggested a sculpture of St. John the Baptist was the work of Michelangelo—a long-lost piece said to have been created in the late 15th century. Since then, nearly every expert has dismissed the theory, and the statue was shattered into 14 pieces during the...
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Styrofoam structure looks like ancient sculpture

(Newser) -
Today's mystery: What was a seven-foot-tall head doing floating in the Hudson River? Marist College crew members found the enormous noggin, made of Styrofoam and fiberglass and reminiscent of a Greek or Roman sculpture, while on the river on Tuesday, Newsday reports. It "looked like something out of...
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Toronto artist wanted 'marginalized' people to relate

(Newser) -
A new sculpture of Jesus looks a lot like a homeless person lying on a bench—which, ironically, is why it had trouble finding a home, the Toronto Star reports. Artist Timothy Schmalz carved Jesus huddling under a blanket so that "marginalized" people could relate. Jesus was, after all,...
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Controversial Famous Missourians sculpture for sale to collectors

(Newser) -
Cheer up, Limbaugh fans. Sure, your favorite rotund radio host is losing advertisers left and right , but at least he's being inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians , and you can own a piece of that history. The sculptor producing Limbaugh's bust for the Hall will make an...
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Couple set up phone number for modern church sculpture

(Newser) -
A Dutch town has a guardian angel—and her cell phone gets 30 calls a day. The Little Angel, a sculpture outside the ancient St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in 'S Hertogenbosch, was born out of a 1997 design contest to replace the church's worn-down figures. In addition...
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Artwork marks what would have been his 83rd birthday

(Newser) -
Had Andy Warhol survived gallbladder surgery, he would have turned 83 on Saturday—a very, very old 83. At least that's how artist Edgar Askelovic imagines him: with bloated legs, lots of wrinkles, and toothless, but still with a shock of white hair. Askelovic, 23, used silicone and clay...
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Stolen Chillida, Picasso works recovered

(Newser) -
A Spanish gang of late contenders for the "Dumbest Criminal of 2010" award offered to sell a scrap merchant an iron sculpture worth close to $1 million ... for just $65, police say. The artwork, by Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida, has been recovered, along with works by Pablo Picasso and...
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12-inch sculpture was covered with tape

(Newser) -
A US art historian says he’s found the model for Michelangelo's great statue the Pieta at the Vatican, the Daily Telegraph reports. An Italian art collector picked up the 12-inch terracotta model at an antiques shop; before restoration, it was covered in paint and dotted with Scotch tape. But...
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Subway diggers find stash of long-lost sculptures

(Newser) -
A stash of sculptures that survived both the Nazis and Allied firebombing has been found by workers digging a new subway line in Berlin. The sculptures, all from early 20th-century artists, were on a list of "degenerate" artworks shunned by the Nazis for having Jewish or otherwise non-German influences...
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'Walking Man I' squeaks by Picasso's record price

(Newser) -
Alberto Giacometti's "Walking Man I" sculpture has sold at Sotheby's for $104.3 million, breaking the record for the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. The previous record-holder was Picasso's "Boy With a Pipe," which sold for $104.2 million 6 years ago, the Wall Street ...
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Government considers covering female figure's legs

(Newser) -
Senegal's government is considering taking action against one of its most prominent women for a hemline that's too high—by about 30 feet. Having spent $30 million on a giant statue of an African family meant to tower over the capital Dakar, President Abdoulaye is considering a costly revision because...
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(Newser) -
Controversial artist Banksy has mounted a huge show at his hometown Bristol City Museum—but the secretive vandal is nowhere to be seem, the Times of London reports. The exhibition was planned in secret through Banksy’s representatives. “We couldn’t even tell the council and the whole thing...
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